I think Pitt has a process, with a form & everything, for asking for reconsideration. It was mentioned on the Pitt forum.
@waitingincpa I understand wanting to get great merit from a nationally recognized school. Merit is a tricky thing.
Also are you rating the school preferences based on overall reputation, or on biomedical program reputation and opportunities?
How much does the $$ play into decision? Is DS planning on going on to graduate school, so spend less on UG to save some financial resources? Need to stretch money with pre-college siblings?
Biomedical engineering has a pretty high fallout, at least at some schools. That may be part of the reason some colleges don’t direct admit into their engineering program. Not sure if students do not recognize what the curriculum requires, they realize they are better suited for something else, or they realize the career is not what they want. I know one biomedical engineering graduate from TAMU who works for a hospital and has a very satisfying career.
I would make sure to tour the financially/pocketbook appealing schools to make sure cost/benefit is fully evaluated. Also see if your DS would ‘fit in’ - if the campus size, the setting (urban, college town, etc), social activities appeal. During this cold (and for some snow filled) winter, students are thinking about the appeal of a southern school 
Not knowing your son’s career decision process, don’t know how certain he will stay in biomedical engineering major. That could also factor into school decision - a safety net if he changes majors, that he can continue to complete his UG degree at his chosen school and under the merit they offered for 4 years of education.
A friend’s son (going into environmental engineering) wouldn’t visit or apply to certain schools that offered great merit. Parents are middle class but supposedly have some family trust money from surgeon grandparent - very drained by older cousins and may need contributions by mom’s siblings. The mom says she wants DS to be able to pick his college just like his cousins did. Different parenting style than mine. H and I feel great peace with our DDs college costs being covered with scholarships and the college savings plan and college savings we had. One DD is at UAB (nursing) and other is at UA (civil eng). Never know what kind of family hardship may occur that makes money situation change. I had stage III cancer at age 52.
When DS has his degree, how well he did at college and the opportunities he sought out, additional skills he can bring to the job are going to be a great start to his career irregardless which of the very good schools on your list. He can perhaps really shine from one program, where he will be ‘one of many’ at another program.
Good luck with getting the merit at a good match for DS.
@SOSConcern Yes, we have rated the schools he is looking at on an overall ranking and on the ranking of their Biomedical Engineering department. Of the nine schools he ended up applying to, there is a wide range in rankings. We also understand that a couple of the BME programs are in the Up and Coming category.
We have visited over half of the nine schools, and will visit the “high end” ones if he is offered enough aid to make them do-able. If they don’t, he is already in a good position with VCU, Case, UAB, UMinn, and UIC. We are with you on the parenting style–we gave him the option to apply to the financial reach schools, with the understanding that going to one of them will require the schools to give him a substantial amount of money to make them affordable. Given that we know he plans on going to grad school (or med school), it doesn’t make sense to generate a large debt load for the undergraduate degree.
Also, he is positive that BME is what he wants to do. He likes the flexibility the major offers him, since he hasn’t decided between going onto Med School or grad school following the BS degree.